Opinions & Interviews

“We are currently working on Belarus’ low-carbon development strategy and we have already drafted it. We plan to use more renewable resources – wind, water, heat. They are the future,” Ivan Narkevich said.

Viktor Melnik, head of the department of scientific and methodological support of hydrometeorological, radiation and ecological monitoring and databases of the National Center of Hydrometeorology, Radiation Control and Environmental Monitoring of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said that a Union State program to develop a hydrometeorological security system in 2017-2021 was adopted in February 2017. The document contains a section on climate. It suggests recommendations to adapt to climate change for major weather-dependable sectors such as agriculture, energy, public services. Besides, Belarus approved a plan of action to implement the Paris Agreement that envisages greenhouse gas emissions mitigation. There is also a state program of research, slated for implementation in 2016-2020, which aims to study and assess the impact of urbanization and reclamation on water and land resources.

According to experts, unfavorable weather events are behind up to 40% of the losses in Belarus’ agriculture. According to Chief Researcher of the Institute for Nature Management of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Vladimir Loginov, the use of climate information is one of available reserves to improve productivity in agriculture. The main thing, however, is to improve farming standards and use advanced technologies.